Section VI- Most Valuable Gymnast (2004, 2005), All-Round Champion (2005). Currently holds Hamburg’s highest All-Around score in school history. Led Hamburg Gymnastics to two Section VI Team Championships (2005, 2006). Six-time gold medalist at Empire State Games. Three-time Junior Olympic National Qualifier (2005, 2006, 2007). Went on to compete at Penn State University Gymnastics becoming Captain in her Senior year.
William McClelland – Football, Basketball, Track
All-WNY receiver who scored 13 TD’s during the undefeated 1935 Football Season. Competed in the 220 yard dash and 440 year run for the Purple and White throughout high school and college career. Set the Section VI record in the 440-yard dash of 52.2 in 1936, which stood for many years. Played Forward on the second place Section VI 1936 Basketball Team. Received a four-year academic/athletic scholarship to attend Rutgers University, where as a freshman he played football and ran track for the Scarlet Knights. While at Rutgers competed in the intercollegiate 4-A track and field championships at Madison Square Garden, running for the Medley Relay team.
I grew up in the Village with my 5 siblings. I graduated from Hamburg HS in 1968 where I was a good student and played football and basketball. I went to Cornell University and received a BA in 1972. I was a 3-year starter on the Cornell football team at defensive back.
For 3 years after Cornell, I was a painter and printmaker, which was and is my primary passion. Nonetheless, I went to UB Law School and graduated cum laude in 1978. I worked as a confidential law clerk to John T. Curtin, Chief Judge of the Federal District Court for my first legal job, where I worked on the momentous Buffalo school desegregation case.
After 2 years in Federal Court, I joined the Hodgson Russ law firm. At Hodgson, I practiced Corporate and Antitrust Law and served as head of the firm’s corporate department and n the board of the largest law firm in Buffalo. I have been included in Best Lawyers of America for both corporate and antitrust law for over 20 years and was named the corporate lawyer of the year in Buffalo in 2008. In addition to major Buffalo companies, my largest clients were headquartered in Finland. I worked on major merger and antitrust cases for them and served as a director of their US holding companies.
Throughout my legal career I continued to pursue my art practice in a serious way. In my early 60’s I cut back on legal work and increased the time I devoted to art. I had a one-person exhibition of my etchings at a major Buffalo gallery in early 2018. I am a co-founder of Mirabo Press, a fine art printmaking workshop in Buffalo and exhibited work in numerous shows the last few years. I have served a director of numerous for-profit and not-for-profit companies and currently am a director of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Western New York and also Western NY Book Arts.
Dr. Joan Calkins is the fourth of nine children of Drs. Evan and Virginia Calkins of Hamburg. Joan moved to Hamburg before third grade and as a young person was active in 4-H, showing horses, dogs, and chickens. She also played the trumpet, swam on the Hamburg swim team, was a member of the Girls Service Club, and participated on the deputation teams at the Hamburg Presbyterian Church. In her senior year at Hamburg High School, Joan was president of the National Honor Society and graduated third in the class of 1971.
Joan earned her undergraduate degree from Vassar College in 1975 and her M.D. from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1979. She completed her training in Pediatrics and Pediatric Rheumatology at Hopkins and was awarded a Robert Wood Johnson Fellowship. Joan served on the faculty at Ohio State University and University of Missouri at Kansas City before returning to Hamburg in 1993. She opened her own private practice, Village Pediatrics and Rheumatology, in 1997. She remains today the only private practicing pediatric rheumatologist in the country.
Her commitment to Hamburg extended into her family life as all five of Joan’s children graduated from HHS. Megan Boyd (2001) serves as Director of Choral Activities at Xavier University in Cincinnati, OH. Matt Bender (2002) is a neurosurgeon at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, NY. Brady Bender (2006) currently clerks for a Federal Court of Appeals Judge in Detroit, MI. Julie Bender (2009) works as an assistant principal and science teacher in Minneapolis, MN. Kyrill Calkins (2017) still resides here in Western NY. Joan also served on the Hamburg School Board from 2009-2013, acting as president in the final three years.
I grew up with my 3 brothers in the Village of Hamburg and later moved into the town. My folks, Jeanne and Andrew Smith, were active members of the community including: American Legion (they were both veterans of WWII), Catholic Daughters, and Hamburg Baseball. I graduated from Hamburg High School in 1976 and then attended Hilbert College receiving an A.S. Degree in Business Administration and played baseball for 2 years at Hilbert. I went on to the University of Buffalo School of Management where I received a B.S. in Business Administration.
After graduating the job market was challenging and I started as a beer truck driver for a local beer distributor, Lake Erie Distributors. I moved on to route sales at Try-it Distributing in the mid 1980’s. In 1987 I joined Labatt USA as a sales representative. Labatt USA became a global company owned by the likes of Interbrew and InBev. I held several positions in wholesaler management and National Accounts. One of my proudest moments was when I was part of the team that was able to move Labatt USA National Headquarters from Norwalk CT to Buffalo, NY. In 2015 working with FIFCO USA, new parent company of Labatt USA, I was named Vice President of Sales for North America, managing a sales organization of over 200 people, and was able to expand the business into all 50 states, the Caribbean and Canada. With all my business success my greatest achievement was being able to, along with my wife JoAnne (HHS class of 1977) raise our 3 children: Kevin, Sean, and Meghan in this community and have all 3 children graduate from HHS. Recently I have started along with friends and family a non-for-profit 501c3 group called Out of the Blue whose mission is to “enhance the lives of the adult disabled living throughout WNY”. To date we have given over $80,000 to this special community.